How to upgrade the PS4 hard drive to an SSD

If you have any familiarity with today’s computer systems then you were at least somewhat disappointed that neither the Xbox One nor the PlayStation 4 shipped with an SSD. Each system opted for a mechanical hard drive, which brings sufficient storage and affordability to the consoles, even if that meant forsaking the speed and inevitability of the SSD. The good news is that PS4 owners will be able to quickly — and easily — swap out their 500GB 2.5-inch hard drive and replace it either with a larger model or a solid-state drive.

This video explains how to upgrade your PS4′s hard drive to an SSD in just a few easy steps…

Basically, the PS4 hard drive upgrade process is very simple. You need to slide off the shiny section of the PS4′s case, remove a single screw (denoted by the X, Y, O, triangle symbols), and then pull the hard drive. After that you remove it from the drive caddy, drop in your new hard drive or SSD with that same caddy, and put everything back in place. You’ll want to pay special attention to restoring the panel on the case, as it slides in from the top, not fully from the side (the video makes everything quite clear).

With the hardware in order, you’ll want to head over to Playstation.com and get the version 1.5 PlayStation 4 Software Update. This can then be installed on your PS4 using a FAT 32-formatted USB drive (1GB or larger), which will put Sony’s operating system on the blank drive.

To make the USB drive compatible, you’ll want to add a “PS4″ folder to the freshly formatted USB drive and then put an “UPDATE” folder inside. Drop the file you downloaded from Sony into the UPDATE folder and insert the USB drive into the powered down PS4.  Then you can start the installation procedure by booting the PS4 with a special 7 second long (or more) press of the power button. With that PlayStation should recognize the drive and start the installation. Just make sure you select “Reinstall System Software”. The installation of the OS should take about five minutes from start to finish.

After that point you’ll need to start fresh with your PS4 — connect to wireless again, add your PSN account, redownload your games, etc., but everything should go by very quickly since you’ll be rocking that speedy new SSD.

Microsoft Changed there Logo after 25 Years

In advance of one of the most significant waves of product launches in Microsoft’s history, today we are unveiling a new logo for the company.

It’s been 25 years since we’ve updated the Microsoft logo and now is the perfect time for a change. This is an incredibly exciting year for Microsoft as we prepare to release new versions of nearly all of our products. From Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 to Xbox services to the next version of Office, you will see a common look and feel across these products providing a familiar and seamless experience on PCs, phones, tablets and TVs. This wave of new releases is not only a reimagining of our most popular products, but also represents a new era for Microsoft, so our logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning.

The Microsoft brand is about much more than logos or product names. We are lucky to play a role in the lives of more than a billion people every day. The ways people experience our products are our most important “brand impressions”. That’s why the new Microsoft logo takes its inspiration from our product design principles while drawing upon the heritage of our brand values, fonts and colors.

The logo has two components: the logotype and the symbol. For the logotype, we are using the Segoe font which is the same font we use in our products as well as our marketing communications. The symbol is important in a world of digital motion (as demonstrated in the video above.) The symbol’s squares of color are intended to express the company’s diverse portfolio of products.

Starting today, you’ll see the new Microsoft logo being used prominently. It will be used on Microsoft.com – the 10th most visited website in the world. It is in three of our Microsoft retail stores today (Boston, Seattle’s University Village and Bellevue, Wash.) and will shine brightly in all our stores over the next few months. It will sign off all of our television ads globally. And it will support our products across various forms of marketing. Fully implementing a change like this takes time, so there may be other instances where you will see the old logo being used for some time.
We’re excited about the new logo, but more importantly about this new era in which we’re reimagining how our products can help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.

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Microsoft Confirm hackers Spam in Android Devices

A spam engineer at Microsoft has warned that hackers can use Android powered tablets and smartphones to send spam emails.  Android users should be cautious to install any mobile apps that do not come from the Google Play Store or the Amazon Appstore since a new malware app has been reportedly sending spam emails through affected devices.  Terry Zink says that a new app is sending out emails with the signature “Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android” and the messages are starting to come from a number of locations including Indonesia, Chile, Lebanon, Oman, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Thailand.

Zink wrote on an MSDN blog, “I’ve written in the past that Android has the most malware compared to other smartphone platforms, but your odds of downloading and installing a malicious Android app is pretty low if you get it from the Android Marketplace, but if you get it from some guy in a back alley on the Internet, the odds go way up.”  The malware affected app logs into your Yahoo account through your Android device and then starts by sending out spam messages.

The app does not seem to be coming from Google’s Play Store, so that is a little less to worry about, but users who attempt to download hacked, pirated or other versions of official apps should be aware they could contain the malware code.  Malware type apps have appeared in the past and sent spam text messages from users phones in order to rack up phone bills to unsuspecting smartphone users.  The “botnet” virus gives the hacker just enough access to your account to send the spam messages.  The messages have not been sent anywhere in the United States yet, but that does not mean you are 100 percent safe either.

Users can avoid malicious content from mobile app download stores if they stick to official stores like the Amazon Appstore and Google Play Store which scan for potentially harmful mobile apps and remove them from the store or deny their submission altogether.  If you are concerned about downloading the wrong type of mobile app you can follow a couple easy steps.  Before the app is installed on your device, the Android software will show you what permissions it has on your phone.  If you are downloading a game app, you might want to make sure it does not have access to your contact list.  You can get more tips for downloading safe apps online.

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